Speeches by Coleman.

“Given that NHS England has only just accepted in June—and suddenly put in seven places on its website—that the claims that it has been making for Palantir are not causally robust, do we need an outside, independent review of the situation?”

“No, I am asking if you are aware of these three pieces? Jim, you nodded at that.”

“Given that you are aware of them, and they raise serious questions about the effectiveness of Palantir, and that you are reviewing whether the contract should end next March or be continued, do you agree that it would be helpful to have an independent audit of Palantir’s effectiveness before any renewal decision is tak…”

“But the Bill removes what exists at the moment. It makes it worse when it comes to local authorities.”

“Forgive me; I should have said “not on their own”.”

“Can I come and meet you with colleagues and talk about that?”

“We brought an amendment to the Committee considering the Bill, which the Minister opposed. The fact of the matter is that, statutorily, the mayor will have a role on the four ICBs in London—he will somehow split himself into four bits—whereas the local authorities, which have all the budgetary and statutory responsibil…”

“Thank you. I move on to another aspect of the Health Bill, which is the role of local authorities on integrated care boards. The Bill as it stands—I am talking specifically about London here—would strengthen the Mayor of London’s role on integrated care boards by removing the current statutory requirement for local aut…”

“Not in the Bill.”

“They have three; we argued for that. I was on the north-west London ICB. We argued for that and we got that. The statutory right to have those three in north-west London, which is now being merged with central London and 9.3 million people, will go. The same applies to the other three ICBs in London: local authorities …”

“Is there a possibility that this guidance—there is obviously an issue with other devolved areas; elected mayors do not run unitary authorities. My problem, which I have discussed from the moment I was elected as a Member of Parliament, is that the NHS does not understand how local government in this country works. The …”

“Nor would I—alongside. Would you consider, therefore, having mayors alongside London local authorities retaining their statutory position? You could have both, but why take local authorities out and put the mayor in?”

“I was saying that having a mayor instead would not be beneficial. You could have a mayor alongside. If they are both there on a statutory basis, I could see how that might work.”

“Forgive me for interrupting you. This is absolute nonsense. You are removing the statutory response rights of local authorities. You are not devolving; you are pushing it up to the mayor, who does not have local authorities, which are being pushed out of the picture. How is that improving the democratic accountability …”

“Secretary of State, yesterday I accompanied my constituent, Louise Thompson, and former MP Theo Clarke to No. 10 to deliver a petition with 167,000 signatures calling for a statutory maternity commissioner. In the House, you reassured me that the Government would use the current Health Bill to create that position. Is …”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for all that he is doing to sort out this mess. Does he agree that the queues and delays facing British travellers under the EU’s entry-exit system were entirely avoidable? Had Britain kept its seat at the table, we would not be subject to these to checks at all, we would have had a voic…”

“Do you have other options if that is not going to be in the Bill?”

“When might it happen, if it does happen?”

“Yet you are taking a single approach in the Bill.”

“I know you have the Imperial College London big piece of work; I am not talking about that. I am saying that three serious analyses have been done recently that show that the NHS has consistently—if they are right—overstated the impact and effectiveness of Palantir, and that it resisted any change. Palantir is still ma…”